Macedonian artifacts and icons on illegal markets in Asia
Twenty stolen icons have been dusting off the windows of two museums in Albania for several years, waiting for authorities there to decide their fate. This is an invaluable thing that Northern Macedonia has been trying to bring back to the country for years.
The latest information the Macedonian Ministry of Culture has received from neighboring Albania is that the icons are kept in a safe and secure place in two museums in Tirana. The Albanian Ministry of Culture has sent a letter to the Government of Edi Rama, which has to make the final decision - whether the stolen icons will be returned to Macedonian churches and monasteries or will have the fate of many other religious and archeological objects that are lost forever. the trace.
Police estimates that 1000 valuable artifacts and icons have been stolen from the country. Experts say the number is far higher at around 3000 items - enough to fill several museums. Although the police take measures to prevent criminal groups and illegal diggers, it seems that they are always a few steps ahead of organized groups, which continue to dig in the bowels of valuable historical and cultural heritage.
Interpol is looking for 160 stolen items
Macedonian police have reported 160 stolen archeological objects and icons at the Interpol base. Some of the icons and items that have been reported stolen have been published on the website of the Ministry of Interior. "Stolen objects from Northern Macedonia usually end up on illegal markets in Western European countries, and in recent years, stolen archeological objects mostly end up on markets in Asian countries," Interior Ministry sources told Deutsche Welle.
The Ministry of Interior and Interpol are looking for the icons "Resurrection of Lazarus", "Coronation of the Mother of God", St. John the Theologian, "Mother of God with Child and Saints", "Descent into Hell", "Jesus Christ", "St. Nicholas 3", "Several Saints" "St. John the Baptist", "Crucifixion", "Crucifixion", "Rooms of Angels", "Antimini", "The Mother of God and the Child", the chapel "St. John the Theologian", as well as several gold earrings, an earring in the shape of lion, tiara and other valuables. Experts say the stolen items are worth millions at auctions. These are objects that date back to before the 15th century and have enormous material, historical and cultural value.
Destruction of historical heritage
The destruction of the country's cultural and historical heritage has been going on for decades. Individuals, but also organized groups, which are often connected to foreign channels where they sell stolen items on the black markets in Europe, are part of the chain that participates in the plunder of the Macedonian cultural heritage. The stolen items are sold to foreign art dealers, museums, private collectors, and some end up for sale in one of the world-famous auction houses in Europe and the United States. It is interesting that lately, according to the police, the black market of artifacts in Asia is becoming more relevant, where stolen items from Northern Macedonia can be found.
Several years ago, Albanian police seized 1077 icons, artifacts and other religious objects dating back to the Middle Ages in Operation Icon.
It is estimated that there are over one hundred thousand items that were found on Macedonian soil, and in various ways were taken from the country and now adorn museums around the world. The process of restitution or return is practically impossible. Artifacts from Macedonia are mainly found in museums in neighboring countries. There are in Belgrade, there are many in Sofia. There are further afield, in the British Museum, in America, in Amsterdam and in various museums in Europe and the world.
For example, Athena of Heraclea is housed in the British Museum. There are about 20 thousand icons from Macedonian churches and monasteries that are alienated around the world. The icons from St. Naum have not been found. Six icons of St. John the Theologian - Kaneo of inestimable value were stolen from Ohrid, returned by Interpol, stolen again and never found. The golden masks from the Trebenishta necropolis are in Belgrade and Sofia. Another 187 archeological objects are in Sofia, and two other gold masks and another 257 objects have been legally taken to Belgrade. There are almost half of the most important artifacts from Stobi.
The Serbian daily Blic reported in 2014 that more than 10 valuable religious objects had been stolen from churches in Macedonia in the past 10 years. Citing a statement by Ohrid-based curator Milcho Georgievski, the paper points out that stolen artifacts from Macedonian churches and archeological sites are being sold at secret auctions in Western Europe and end up in private collections.
How did the thefts take place?
Police actions in recent years, in which several organized groups of illegal diggers of archeological treasures were dismantled, have revealed the scheme by which the illegal business with the national treasury is carried out. It includes well-organized groups, which use sophisticated and expensive equipment, which costs from 40 to 80 thousand euros and more, to detect objects. A field mapping is done and everything that will be found valuable and enticing to the diggers is excavated from the bowels of the earth. The old tombs are not spared either. On the contrary, they are often excavated in the hope that a valuable item will be found. According to the investigators, the stolen items were offered at a price of over 14 thousand euros. Some of the items even reach dizzying prices on the black markets.
The last action reported by the police was in December last year, when indictment specialist Velo Markovski and seven other people were charged with illegal archeological research and smuggling of artifacts for personal gain. Markovski, who recently became a member of the Executive Committee of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE, kept some of the artifacts in his apartment until a buyer was found, after which the defendants smuggled them. The investigation lasted several months.
Investigations with a court epilogue
In the period from 2010 to 2014, the police carried out several major actions to expose artifact smugglers. The operation "Phalanga" started, after which the big theft of objects from the Museum of Macedonia on objects from the locality Isar-Marvinci was discovered, and the investigation took the police to Gevgelija, where the operation "Apollo" was realized. Charges were brought against and tried by senior officials of the Office for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, as well as senior police officials and experts in charge of preventing crime with artifacts. They claimed that they were set up for revenge. The name of Pasko Kuzman, the former director of the Cultural Heritage Administration, was also found in some of the investigations.
The Apollo case was in fact a continuation of the actions taken as part of Operation Phalanx. This criminal group was attacked by the Vardar Valley where there are sites from the Paeonian period. Once the tombs where the treasure was hidden were located with certain equipment, they were opened with diggers and shovels. The excavated items are originals. In addition to archeological and historical objects, the members of the criminal group also offered icons for sale, originating from the thefts committed by several churches. The investigation showed that the suspects used highly sophisticated equipment during the excavation of the sites. With the help of such equipment, they were able to easily locate metal objects buried in graves. The police then found two icons from the thieves, nine different archeological figures, three fibulae, six pieces - pieces of jewelry, 17 coins, two ceramic vessels, various equipment, consisting of scanners and metal detectors, maps and sketches of archeological sites, as and weapons and ammunition.
The site of Marvinci has been under attack by thieves for years, from where in the past 20 to 30 years it is assumed that illegal diggers have dug about a thousand graves and a huge number of artifacts have been resold in Macedonia and Greece to end up as objects with Greek origin. A few years ago, an eight-member group of diggers and traders in artifacts and icons of inestimable cultural and historical significance were arrested.
What will be the fate of the Struga icons?
Northern Macedonia is still awaiting the return of 20 valuables found at Albanian collector Gjergji Timo, who hid 1.077 icons and artifacts of great artistic value dating from the 15th to the 20th century. Twenty icons should be returned to the churches in the villages of Radozda, Burinec and Selce in the Struga region, as well as the villages of Gjavato and Perovo in the Bitola region. S.Macedonia expects to receive both icons made by Dicho Zograf. The valuables were planned to be sold abroad. The stolen works, according to Albanian authorities, could fill an entire museum.
"Macedonian experts were in Albania and recognized about 20 icons, which should be returned to our country. The icons, which were seized by police in Albania, have not been reported to the Interpol database. "11 of those icons are from the region of Struga and 8 are from the Prespa-Resen region," said the Ministry of Interior.
In the inspection report, which arrived from the Republic of Albania, the Macedonian police were informed that the following icons had been identified:
1. Church of St. Nikola in Radozda, Struga
- St. Nicholas, dimensions: 74x48x3cm
- Mother of God with Christ, dimensions: 73x49x3cm
- Jesus Christ, dimensions: 73 × 49,5 × 3 cm
2. Church Introduction of the Most Holy Mother of God in the village of Burinec, Struga
- St. Athanasius, dimensions: 90x50x4 cm
- St. Nicholas, dimensions 90x53x 2,5 cm
- Daisy (Christ, the Mother of God and John the Baptist, painter Seraphim, dimensions 68 x43x 3 cm
3. Church of St. Atanasij in the village of Selci, Struga,
- St. George, dimensions 72x50x1,5 cm, Dicho Zograf
- Ascension of the Prophet Elijah, dimensions 70x50x2cm, Dicho Zograf
- Victim of the prophet Elijah, Avram Dichov,
- Escape of Lot with his daughters, Avram Dichov,
- Arch.Mihail
4. Church of St. Bogorodica in the village of Gjavato, Prespa
- St. Basil, dimensions 95x57x5cm
- Jesus Christ, dimensions 93x 57 x3,5 cm
- St. Charalampios, dimensions 93x 50 x2,5 cm
5. Church of St. Athanasius in Dolno Perovo, Prespa
- Holy Mother of God with Christ, dimensions 101x 61 × 4 cm,
- Imperial Doors-Annunciation, dimensions 140,5x 47x 3 cm
- Jesus Christ, dimensions100 x61 x4 cm
- St. Demetrius, dimensions 100 x60x 3,5 cm
- Meeting of Christ, dimensions 35x 25x 2 cm,
- Baptism of Christ, dimensions 35 x30 x2 cm.
"The Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Macedonia, in accordance with the Law on Protection of Cultural Heritage, provided the entire documentation and submitted to the Ministry of Culture, which is in charge of the restoration of archaeological objects, icons and others. "According to the information we have, the procedure for returning the seized icons is still ongoing," said police sources.
Churches targeted by thieves
It is estimated that nearly 12 churches and 800 mosques have been looted in the last 53 years. In the past ten years alone, 600 icons of 40 churches of inestimable value have been stolen. The most valuable icons have disappeared from the churches in the Southwest region. Church artifacts, secular books, crosses, shrouds with miraculous power were stolen, through which the centuries-old tradition and beliefs of the local population are woven. One of the major thefts took place in the Gostivar area, where icons and a valuable silver cross were stolen. The churches in the Ohrid region, in the Bitola region and in the Debar region were not spared either.
Several years ago, the Ministry of Interior announced that it would launch an initiative to collect data on thefts of valuable artifacts in the past 30 years. "Unfortunately, in the past 30 years, no one has shown enough care for the cultural and historical heritage of the country and no one has taken the initiative to find and return the artifacts that have been taken out of the country for decades," claimed the Interior Ministry when Gordana was interior minister. Jankuloska.
The protection of the cultural-historical heritage is primarily the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture, ie the Office for Protection of the Cultural Heritage. They are responsible, in accordance with the law, for keeping records of cultural and historical goods located abroad. The Ministry of Interior is involved when there are indications of crimes related to the alienation and theft of the cultural and historical wealth of the country.
Measures without effect
In recent years, thieves have literally ravaged Macedonian churches, especially in the western part of the country. Struga, Ohrid, Debar, but also Bitola were literally left without hundreds of icons of inestimable value. Some churches protected themselves by installing security cameras, guarding doors, or keeping icons in depots to protect themselves from thieves. But there is a large number of churches that are literally left at the mercy and are a frequent target of thieves and vandals. For better protection of the cultural and historical wealth that the country has at its disposal was the inventory of the wealth that the MOC has at its disposal, in accordance with international standards. The icons were recorded, so that in case of robbery they could be searched through Interpol.
"Most of the stolen icons from Macedonian churches are transferred across the Albanian border, and from there through international channels for theft of church treasures end up in private collections around the world," said Bishop Petar of Prespa and Plagonia a few years ago after the biggest theft of church treasures in Bitola. , which happened in the village of Gopesh. The thieves took 41 icons from the iconostasis to the church "Holy Transfiguration".
According to the Ministry of Culture, about 200 churches and monasteries are registered as national treasures, and many of them are very poorly secured. The thieves mostly focus on churches in the western part of the country, on the border with Albania, where the majority of the population is Albanian. The stolen icons are believed to be sold at secret auctions in Western Europe and end up in private collections, including those of Russian tycoons.
Law enforcement agencies are always a few steps behind the thieves, who are usually well organized, with elaborate channels in Europe and the world, after which they manage to take the wealth out of the country, which soon ends up in the windows of foreign collectors. The absence of protection measures, the non-insurance of the artifacts, as well as the absence of a categorized list of the overall heritage make it impossible for quality protection measures for the cultural heritage.
In recent years, there have been a number of initiatives aimed at stopping the export of artifacts from the country - technical equipment of institutions has been proposed, cameras have been installed in churches, security has been strengthened, padlocks and bars have been installed, and special museums for storage have been established. of the valuable icons, the originals were hidden in depots, and in their place were placed copies. But all these measures were like scratching the surface of the problem, short-lived ideas, which rarely have a finish. Meanwhile, the illegal digging, theft, appropriation of cultural treasures continue away from the public eye. The occasional information in the police bulletins about a discovered group of illegal diggers is just a reminder that every day a piece of cultural heritage is torn off, a piece on which the trace is almost never found.
Taken from Deutsche Welle
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